Hey guys looking for some help I am now on about my 7th high pressure pipe and the garage keep replacing them under warranty but I’m trying to get to the root cause... has anyone come across this problem before ?
The pipe keeps cracking at the same place and I have had the pump replaced so I know it’s not the figment on the pump

Any help welcome!!!

Last edited by CalMac on Thu 23 Nov, 2017 14:49, edited 1 time in total.

Very strange - never seen this mentioned before as a recurring problem. The power steering on these cars is a relatively simple hydraulic system containing ATF oil. The only problems I've seen (similar to this) are old steel pipe sections rusting/fracturing and/or the rubber hose sections either aging or the factory fitted crimped clamps loosening with age which is easily rectified with a good quality "jubilee" clip. No offence intended but has your garage really fitted 7? Are they fitting the correct type of hydraulic hose?

Trust me this is from a bmw dealership and I’m just trying to see if anyone has come across this issue before...
This will be pipe number 7 the fracture/crack appears on the cast section that fits into the pump and it’s where the olive shape is cast into the pipe

My best guess would be that something else in the system is either distorted and exerting undue pressure on the connection - like the cooling loop it connects to at the other end. It's not unknown for the cooling loop to get bent, eg an old accident repair.

Or that the hoses are not properly secured and are free to move. There is 2 if not 3 mounting points I think. I did a front end rebuild which was very thorough apart from one thing - securing the power steering hose pipes properly. They are just cable tied for now. The point is I'm quite a thorough person but I was eager to get the car back on the road, the original fittings were not reuseable, I couldn't quickly figure out how to put them back so I skipped it as the pipes look fairly rigid on their own. All the same I cable tied them. If I'm tempted to do that a previous garage may have done the same and the dealership may not have put 2 and 2 together.

Only other thoughts are a dodgy batch - even over a couple of years 7 of them could be coming from the same batch - there could be low demand such that others have not yet flagged the problem.

Or maybe the dealership is over tightening the connection? I guess an even longer shot would be contaminated fluid that is corroded the fitting.